Study on gene expression profiles and their relation to cell differentiation in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

    LI Pei, LING Zhiª²Qiang, YANG Hongª²Yan, HUANG Youª²Tian, ZHAO Jiª²Min, DONG Ziª²Ming

    Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China£¬ Institute of Bioengineering, Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences, Hangzhou 310013£¬China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the gene expression profiles and to screen the genes related to cell differentiation in primary esoª²phageal cancer, which is helpful to search and locate cell differentiationª²associated genes and deepen the understanding of the molecular mechanism of its tumourgenesis. METHODS: cDNA microarray was used to detect the mRNA from both the primary carcinoma and the corresponding esophageal epithelium in 15 cases of human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The results were analyzed by bioinformatics. RESULTS: Among the 886 target genes, 110 (12.42%) genes were differentially expressed commonly at least twice in all 15 samples. There was a correlation between 16 (1.81%) genes and cell differentiation, of which 9 (1.02%) were upª²regulated and 7 (0.79%) downª²regulated. CONCLUSION: Many ESCCª²associated genes were screened by highª²throughput gene chip method; validating their cellular functions will help to identify the key genes or pathway responsible for ESCC, which might be used as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for ESCC. ......